Fat Bob Fairing and Hard Bags
 

I purchased a 2013 Fat Bob as I liked the styling and the fat front tire. I took the bike on an 1400 mile round trip within months of picking it up. I installed a short fat windshield and soft bags for the trip and never took them off again. The windshield made it much more comfortable at highway speeds and the bags were just too convenient. I figured a fairing would give me better wind deflection during cooler months and give me room to mount a stereo plus I really like the way the Street Glide looked. I almost traded the Bob on a Glide but couldn't justify the cost and loss on the Bob. I really like the way the Street Glide looks going down the highway. So I bought a fairing and some police hardbags and have begun to mock them up on Bob. I though about the Memphis Shades fairing but didn't like the looks and cost. I will probably try to find a way to make everything quick release and I hope to find a way to make it easy to convert back and forth to the twin headlight and single that works with the SG style fairing. I have already mocked up the fairing and started on the hard bags. I also installed rear lowering blocks but I'm not happy with that setup. I have used lots of info from others threads to get me going in the right direction. I'll post some pics and updates as I work through the project.

Interested to see what the short windshield looked like on your bike.

About the best I have of it on my computer at the moment.

These pictures show the angle of the shock after installing the lowering block. Also shown is the location of the bag using the stock late model Street Glide support bracket. I'm really not liking the position of the shock and the bag as shown. I think I will move the bag/bracket a little farther forward to hide more of the shock. I've seen other conversions with the bag sitting this far back and didn't like the end result though the Fat Bob taillight and fender help everything to look proportionate and flow well. That shock just messes it all up for me at this point. I didn't want to fork over the money for a slammer shock but that might be what I end up doing.

Also shown is the fairing in place. I need to adjust the mocked up brackets to move the fairing back towards the tank a little farther to unshroud the headlight for my tastes. That is a Fat Boy replica headlight bucket with a Harley take off headlight and bulb. I purchased the headlight bucket off of ebay and it's not bad. I also ordered a headlight and bulb from the same person. The headlight they sent was for countries like England or Japan where they drive on the opposite side of the road. I was going to return it but waited too long to hook it up and discover what they had sent. It would have blinded oncoming traffic. I mocked the fairing up with some plastic sheet. I then cut some thin sheet metal I picked up from Lowes using the plastic as a template. Once I have the position correct I will try to find some aluminum sheet to make the final brackets from. I'm using the quick release clamps from my HD windshield to attach the fairing which will make it easy to remove. I plan on using a quick connect plug to power the stereo and connect the turn signals. I was thinking of keeping the stock turn signals in place and making it so I could disable them when the fairing is on. I probably won't do this but it was a thought. I will probably just move them to the lower triple tree and leave them there.

These pics show the relation of the bag to the fender and taillight.

I don't know about the hard bag, get them painted and they may look better. The lines of the bags just seem too different from the lines of the rear fender. They will be very functional though.

If you do a search you will find notching the bags is the way to go that will help the bags to flow with the lines of the bags. I took the shorter route because I have time constraints so I bought the pre-notched bags from Cycle-Visions.
Bob

Some pics of my notch in my bags. I did this with ABS, but after talking with Joe (the powder pro) I am going to redo this with glass for a better fit.

http://i1313.photobucket.com/albums/...ps62462e24.jpg

http://i1313.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3792ce9a.jpg

http://i1313.photobucket.com/albums/...pse5f01879.jpg

http://i1313.photobucket.com/albums/...ps479901e1.jpg

I have debated restoring the original color but will probably go two tone with the Candy Orange and satin black.

I feel the tops of the bags and the slope of the fender actually match just fine. I think it's just that its kind of expected to see a different fender with the hard bags.

I did alot of browsing before buying the parts. I want to keep the rear pegs comfortable for a passenger and match up to the rear fender. I just don't like the shocks showing that much. I may have to add covers like a Street Glide as a future project. I do want to tuck them tighter the way several posters have done.